A second language/the second language/

Is it wrong to say "English is a second language" and "a native language?" How would the meaning change if I use "the second language" and "the native language?"
It is from one of my previous threads. There are a lot of questions in that thread so I started a new thread for the question that didn't belong to that discussion.


1. English is a native language not only in Great Britain and the USA. I think "a native language" suggests there could be a few native languages.

But "English is the native language not only in Great Britain and the USA" means there is only one.

2. It is also a second language in many other countries. "A second language" I understand it to mean the second language a person speaks anywhere in the world or a second official language in a country.

3. It is also the second language in many other countries. I am confused by this example. Would it mean the same as #2? Would it have both meanings of #2?

It's your native language if it's the language you learned while growing up. Your second language is the language you learned after that one.

Tarheel said:

It's your native language if it's the language you learned while growing up. Your second language is the language you learned after that one.

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So the explanations I wrote are correct, aren't they?

1. English is the primary language spoken in both the UK and the USA.

In places like Hong Kong and Singapore English is either a first or second language for a large percentage of the population.

Tarheel said:

In places like Hong Kong and Singapore English is either a first or second language for a large percentage of the population.

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Tarheel said:

In places like Hong Kong and Singapore English is either a first or second language for a large percentage of the population.

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So when the is only one official language it is "it the primary language." Right?

But when you used "a first or second language" do you mean the first or second official language of or the first or second language spoken within a community or a group of people?

Anna232 said:

So when there is only one official language it is "it the primary language, right?

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No. When there's just one, it's the official language. When there's more than one official language, one of them is usually the primary language.

Anna232 said:

But when you used "a first or second language" do you mean the first or second official language of or the first or second language spoken within a community or a group of people?

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A person's "first" language is the one they learned first, at home, usually as a very small child, and almost certainly used at home and at school. Their second language is the language they learned next, used extensively, and they're probably relatively fluent in.
An exception to this would be a genuinely bilingual child. A child who grows up with, say, a British mother and a French father, speaking both languages at home in equal amounts, probably wouldn't be able to say they had a "first" language. They effectively have two "first" languages.

An official language is a language used for doing government business.

emsr2d2 said:

No. When there's just one, it's the official language. When there's more than one official language, one of them is usually the primary language.

A person's "first" language is the one they learned first, at home, usually as a very small child, and almost certainly used at home and at school. Their second language is the language they learned next, used extensively, and they're probably relatively fluent in.
An exception to this would be a genuinely bilingual child. A child who grows up with, say, a British mother and a French father, speaking both languages at home in equal amounts, probably wouldn't be able to say they had a "first" language. They effectively have two "first" languages.

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So in my examples it should be:
1.English is the native language not only in Great Britain and the USA.
2. It is also a second language in many other countries. Which means spoken as a second language by some people. But if I used "the second" not "a second" would it have the same meaning?

Anna232 said:

So In my examples, it should be I say the following?

1. English is the native language not only in Great Britain and the USA.

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No. Many people who live in the UK and the USA have a completely different native language. We refer to a person's native language, not a country's.

Anna232 said:

2. It is also a second language in many other countries, which means spoken as a second language by some people. But However, if I used "the second" not "a second" would it have the same meaning?

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It can be someone's second language in any country, including the UK and the USA. Again, think about the person, not where they live.

emsr2d2 said:

No. Many people who live in the UK and the USA have a completely different native language. We refer to a person's native language, not a country's.

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So thinking about the people not the country I remove "the native" and say:

1. English is the primary/the official language not only in Great Britain and the USA. Right?

emsr2d2 said:

It can be someone's second language in any country, including the UK and the USA. Again, think about the person, not where they live.

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Yes, I understand that but to mean that ( it can be someone's second language in any country , including the UK and the USA), why don't you use "the" instead of "a" before "second language?" Is it wrong?

"It is also the second language in many other countries."

Reread post #8.

If a person learns a language in addition to their first language that language is their second language.

Don't overcomplicate things.

Tarheel said:

Reread post #8.

If a person learns a language in addition to their first language that language is their second language.

Don't overcomplicate things.

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Yes, I understand that. I just wanted to make sure that I understand the explanation correctly. "English is the native language" should be changed into "English is the official language or the primary language" not only in Great Britain and the USA. Right?

No.

If a language is the primary language in a country it's the main one spoken there.

We don't have an official language here. That is there is no law saying what language government business should be conducted in.

Anna232 said:

Yes, I understand that but to mean that ( it can be someone's second language in any country , including the UK and the USA), why don't you use "the" instead of "a" before "second language?" Is it wrong?

"It is also the second language in many other countries."

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Think about the people, not the place, as I said before.

It's also many people's second language.
It's also the second language of many people across the world.

As you can see, in the second example, I used "the second language".

Tarheel said:

No.

If a language is the primary language in a country it's the main one spoken there.

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Tarheel said:

We don't have an official language here. That is there is no law saying what language government business should be conducted in.

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No? That's what caused the confusion. Here it is different. Georgian is the official language here and the only language government business should be conducted in. So from my perspective I understand my original sentence "English is the native language not only in Great Britain and the USA" to be wrong. As emsr2d2 explained people who live there can have different native languages. So my sentence doesn't work.
But you said you don't have an official language.
"English is the primary/the official language not only in Great Britain and the USA."
I should use the version you suggested:
English is the primary language spoken in both the UK and the USA.
I am sorry I had to reask so many times. It must be due to some cultural differences. The whole confusion, I mean

You are still confusing primary language and official language. Although it is highly likely that they will be the same language, the two terms do not mean the same thing.

When I say English is not the official language here that simply means there has been no law enacted to make it so. Government business is conducted in English.

Most of us speak English. It's the primary language spoken here.

This Wikipedia article tells you all about the languages spoken in the UK. You'll notice that there is no "official" language listed. It doesn't even use "primary language". Its opening sentence says "English, in various dialects, is the most widely spoken language of the United Kingdom".

Some countries have an official language. Some don't. You need to investigate each country if you want to refer to its languages using such terms.